Yogurt Cheese

This one's for Bethie, who's living a sad life without cheese, but she can eat yogurt.

1) line a fine-mesh sieve with a coffee filter or paper towel; rest sieve over a large glass measuring cup or a deep bowl.
2) Fill lined sieve with 2 cups (or however much you want, just be sure to adjust the amount of the mix-ins) whole or low-fat plain yogurt (NO nonfat yogurt!!). Cover measuring cup with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
3) Discard liquid that has collected in the measuring cup. Transfer yogurt cheese to a bowl. Stir in 1/2 tps coarse salt. Flavor as desired (see below). Makes 1.25 cups.

Mix-in suggestions:
Garlic and Chives-- cook 1 garlic clove in boiling water for 1 min. remove garlic and chop finely. stir garlic and 3 Tbls finely chopped fresh chives into yogurt cheese.
Black Pepper-- Stir in 1/2 tps coarsely ground black pepper.

Results: Pretty good. It's velvety smooth and tangy like yogurt, but it's more like soft cream cheese in consistency. I tried it with the black pepper on a peach. It was just ok, but that was the peach's fault. I think when the peaches start improving I'll try grilling the peach first and then adding the cheese. The recipe says you can have this with baken potatoes, crackers, bread, or as a dip for chips and veggies. I think it would also be good with bagels or English muffins, which is what I'll try next. I wonder if you let it sit in the fridge for longer before eating, like a day and a half or two days, if it would be more solid....